Wednesday April 6, 1977 --

• Lewis M. Hess, longtime Salisbury business and civic leader, was named the winner Tuesday night  of the annual Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce Award. Though he now uses a wheelchair, Mr. Hess flew up from his winter vacation in Florida and was wheeled into the 57th annual banquet, held at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center, by his son, John Hess. Mr. Hess is founder of the regional retail apparel chain that bears his name. At the same event, Chamber leaders Avery W. Hall and David F. Rodgers officially burned the $72,000 mortgage papers on the Chamber's East Main Street and Poplar Hill Avenue headquarters.
• Bette Jane Patt, legal administrator of the Perdue, Owrutsky & Whitehead law firm in Salisbury, became the first woman named to lead the Mid-Delmarva International Management Council. Constance H. Snow of Perdue Inc. was named vice president. John A. Wimbrow of Delmarva Power & Light was named treasurer.
• Congressman Bob Bauman announced that House Republican Minority Leader John J. Rhodes of Ohio would be the guest speaker at the April 29 Wicomico Republican Club Dinner, scheduled for the Moose Lodge on Snow Hill Road.
• Only two taxpayers showed up to to speak on Mayor Elmer F. Ruark’s proposal to use some $400,000 in federal revenue sharing funds to balance the city’s $6 million budget blueprint.
• Judge Richard M. Pollitt upheld the conviction of  Norris P. Wessels, 23, of Catherine Street. Wessels was arrested Jan. 28 in Salisbury after leading police on an eastbound chase on Quantico Road, where speeds exceeded 100 mph. Wessels testified he never heard the police sirens or saw the chasing Maryland State Trooper cars until he reached Salisbury.
• Wi-Hi continued its Track & Field domination with a win over Parkside. Toussaint James won the 100-yard dash with a speed of 10.3 seconds. Donald Keyes captured top honors with an 11-foot pole vault. Parkside’s Bart Robinson set a school record with 41.5-foot shot put heave.
• The newly formed Lower Shore Chapter of the American Diabetes Association, which meets at Peninsula General Hospital, has elected the following officers: John Powell, president; Douglas Kent, vice president; Linda Crockett, secretary; and Ann McCann, treasurer. Linda Tyler will head the Patient Education Committee.